Friday, June 17, 2016

The Machines of War

Recently I have returned to complete my series of Phyrexian Monstrosities concluding with the colorless Machines of War. This has also led to the creation of a new google group to continue this project into a full fledged community driven conversion book of M:TG Monsters, Spells, Artifacts, and Settings to the OSR. For any one wanting to help with the conversion process or fan art, layout, editing, or any other support you can think of please feel free to join.

Just barely resembling a hound of any kind, these dogs of war have a long shiny neck that ends in a set of powerful jaws. Like many phyrexian innovations death only releases more suffering for those around them and the corpse cur is no exception. On death the corpse cur releases in a 20ft radius a black cloud of spores that reanimate all dead non-phyrexian corpses into zombies for 24 hours before falling to ash.

As massive engines of war, the worm coil can drill through the ground burrowing its way past most defenses or it can drive its massive spinning "mouth" straight into the enemy itself devouring and crushing several foes at once. Its bite is fused with a incredibly potent poison that kills instantly for those who fail their save. If brought to 0 or fewer hitpoints but not completely destroyed, the wurm will detach its midsection revealing another spinning bladed maw and the glistening oil will revive the 2 halves to 6HP each and 5(14) AC, one with the deathtouch ability the other with lifelink. Do not reward additional XP for these 2 additional wurms.

Constructed horrors with bloated bodies with a strange airsack attached to them. On death they release accelerant spores that cause all in a 30ft range to make a save or take 1d4 additional infected wounds if they are already infected.

Spellskites are magical banes created for 1 purpose, negate enemy spell casters. Any spell cast within 60ft of the spellskite has a 50% chance ofbeing absorbed by the spellskite and stored like a ring of spell storing. It can hold a number of spell levels equal to its max HP. Any spell that does damage that directly target the spellskit and is not absorbed has then will reflect back a % of the damage (rounded up) to the caster like a ring of spell turning. Any spells stored in the spellskite may be cast by the spellskite as if it was the original caster.

The fearsome Phyrexian Juggernaut wades into combat attacking the nearest target and goes on the warpath destroying everything in its wake. Known to level entire castles on its own it will not stop fighting until all enemies are dead. When they enter into this rage they will not retreat and will fight until they are destroyed. This gives them an additional +3 to hit and damage (reflected above) but they will focus on a single target only until it is destroyed.

The rusted slasher is the Phyrexian incarnation of oxidation, destroying all metal that has been found wanting. Their large bulky framesare slow to move but once their claws come to bare armored foes are rendered quickly into parts. Every time an metal armored foe is hit with its claw attack they must make a save or have their the armor AC reduced by 1. If their armor reaches 0 AC it will fall to pieces. The Rusted slashed regains 3 HP every time it causes this to happen.

These are best described as quadrupedal walking slag furnaces. They have a infectious bite and look to consume the dead and dying reducing any non-metal it has digested into a thick black ash that it continuously spews from its smokestacks.

Brains in jars given metallic, spider like bodies. They initially start at 1 HD (4 HP) but as they consume additional brains their HD grows. They tend to stick in the back letting more melee oriented troops enter combat before unleashing their psionic blasts. This psionic attack deals 1d4 damage and causes the target to make a save or become paralyzed for a number of rounds equal to its HD. If they make their save there is a 20% chance the trauma of having their mind invaded will result in a form of temporary insanity lasting for a number of rounds equal to the HD of the Psychosis crawler, roll on the chart below. If the Psychosis crawler can spend a full round with its mandibles attached to the still living head of a paralyzed victim, it will extract their brain and add 1 HD to its total instantly slaying its victim.

Temporary Insanity Chart(D10)

1: Attack nearest ally 6: Lay on the ground and cry2: Start clawing at own body doing 1d4 damage 7: Run as fast as you can from the battle3: Do nothing other then scream 8: Temporary Amnesia, forget name, skills, spells, friends, etc4: Hug who or what is nearest to you 9: Beserk gaining +3 to hit and damage but must engage in melee every round5: Start taking off Armor, Clothes, Etc 10: Start ingesting small objects(coins, rocks) or any fluids your carrying (potions, oil, poison)

About Me

I have been gaming off and on for close to 17 years now mostly playing D&D 3.0/3.5 with a little pathfinder and the occasional GURPS game here and there. Since finding my calling in the OSR with Swords & Wizardry I am looking to give back to the gaming community which has brought me many years of joy.
My other hobbies include collecting and playing retro gaming systems & games (which was new when I was a kid) and ham radio.